because you can't beat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. the only american soldier still held prisoner by the taliban is now free after five years. we've got new details on bowe bergdahl's release. >> the secretary offered me his own resignation. with considerable regret, i accept it. >> also today, now what? the va secretary is out, so how do we fix the department of veterans affairs, and who's the person for the job? plus, sex offenders in chicago. the new report claiming that police are actually forcing those offenders to break the law.

>> it's the third drop where the grass ends or begins. >> and that mad dash for hidden cash. it has become a scavenger hunt that's taken over twitter. who's behind the secret stash? we'll look at that, plus safety on the gridiron. a teenage football fanatic's concussion cushion has attracted the attention of the white house. it's also today's big idea. i'm craig melvin. good saturday to you. let's get to that breaking news out of afghanistan. we are getting new details about the release of sergeant bowe bergdahl. until today, the 28-year-old was the only u.s. soldier still being held captive by the taliban. let's get right to kristen welker, who's standing by at the white house. kristen, what more can you tell us? >> well, craig, according to a senior administration official, bowe bergdahl was rescued at about 10:30 a.m. eastern time in the eastern part of afghanistan by special forces. he was rescued in exchange for the release of five afghan detainees at guantanamo.

now, i am told that rescue occurred peacefully, without incident. and once he was in the helicopter, once he realized what was happening, craig, i am told that he became very emotional and actually break down. right now he is being held at a forward operating base in afghanistan. he'll then go to bagram airfield and start making his way back to the u.s. so that is what the next several days are going to look like for sergeant bergdahl. we're getting some background information at this hour, craig, about how this all occurred. according to another senior administration official, i'm told that u.s. efforts to reconcile has been a central part. several weeks ago an opportunity arose to resume talks on sergeant bergdahl. the u.s. government saying that

they seized on that opportunity. they also were helped by qatar. president obama thanking them today in his statement, announcing this release of sergeant bergdahl. president obama calling his parents earlier today. let me read you a little of what president obama had to say. quote, on behalf of the american people, i was honored to call his parents to express our joy that they can expect his safe return. mindful of their courage and sacrifice throughout this ordeal. today we also remember the many troops who remain captive or missing. sergeant bergdahl's recovery is a reminder of america's unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield. so that is president obama speaking today about the release of sergeant bowe bergdahl. i asked a senior administration official about the u.s. policy not to negotiate with terrorists.

of course, that is a question that they are going to be asked in the coming days. this is the response i got from a senior administration official. it says, sergeant bergdahl is a member of the military who is detained during the course of an armed conflict. the united states does not leave a soldier behind based on the identity of the party to the conflict. we have been clear that we would use every tool at our disposal to secure sergeant bergdahl's safe return. the statement goes on to say the transfer of the five gaunt detainees at qatar occurred after careful consideration by the secretary of defense in coordination with the national security team that the transfer was in the national security interest of the united states and the threat posed by the detainees to the united states would be significant -- or sufficiently mitigated. craig, of course, this all comes after last week's announcement that the united states will be leaving 9800 u.s. troops in afghanistan after 2014, at the end of this year and then begin to draw down all of its forces after that. so this is significant news.

you can only imagine how emotional that phone call must have been for his parents, who have been fighting for his safe return since 2009. craig? >> his parents robert and jenny, as i understand, had not seen him since christmas of 2008. kristen welker at the white house. kristen, thank you. we'll come back to you later in the broadcast. david row joins me now. he's with reuters, also with "the atlantic." for the purposes of this conversation, we should note he was also captured and held by the taliban for roughly seven months back in 2008. just first of all, your reaction when you heard the news this afternoon. >> well, i'm just overjoyed for bowe and for his family. five years. it's an incredibly long time. it's a testament to his strength he survived this long in taliban captivity. >> what was your mindset when you were freed? we know the road for him -- the road to recovery is going to be a long one. it was good to hear that he's able to walk and that he seems to be in reasonable -- reasonably good health.

what was for you the mindset like? >> it's hard to believe. this anecdote where he's riding on this helicopter, people have been reporting where he doesn't believe he's with american troops and he writes on a plate, you know, "sf" as in special forces. they tell him, yes. he breaks down crying. it's completely understandable. he's been dreaming of today for the last five years. it's just been a complete nightmare for him. it's going to be fascinating now to see the reaction to this. it was clearly a deal. there were five afghan taliban released for his release. we'll see what happens. >> let's talk about that deal. what kind of precedent does that set? my understanding has always been that the folks who are still at guantanamo bay are the worst of the worst. so presumably the five released are bad guys. >> that is very heavily disputed. and maybe this exchange will start a national debate on closing guantanamo. the president said this week at west point he still wants to close guantanamo. these were low-level taliban.

there were mistakes made when guantanamo was opened. one sort of basic legal thing, when we went to war in iraq, it was a war. iraqis we captured were considered prisoners of war. the bush administration did not consider afghan taliban prisoners of war. that's how we have had afghans held without trial for 13 years in guantanamo bay. are we going to keep guantanamo bay open? are we going instead to try people, you know, or hold them indefinitely? that's the broader issue here. are these prisoners of what are? was this a prisoner exchange as we end the war in afghanistan? or is this negotiating with terrorists? you know, let's have the debate. >> why release the names? why not just say we have swapped five detainees? why put the names out? is that just transparency? >> yes. there probably is going to be criticism of this deal. it will become public. there's an agreement they'll stay in qatar for a year. will that happen or not? this doesn't end with bowe bergdahl. there are american civilians like me. there are two journalists missing in syria.

there's an aid worker who's in captivity in pakistan. he's in his 70s. who do we negotiate with? who do we not negotiate with? >> really quickly r the circumstances surrounding precisely how it was that bergdahl went missing, are those circumstances still very much up in the air? >> they are up in the air. there was criticism about did he just walk off that base, was he tricked potentially by afghans that got him to walk off that base? whatever happened. after five years have passed, whatever caused him to fall into enemy hands, you know, if he's kept himself alive this long, you know, i think this was a good deal. i think this was an appropriate exchange if we're going to leave afghanistan, if this war is going to end. you have a prisoner exchange. >> david, we always appreciate your perspective. thank you, sir. thank you. >> also today, it is the day after that big shake-up to president obama's inner circle. veteran affairs secretary is out. we're learning new details this afternoon about just how severe and deep the problems run at the

va. an audit finds failures did not stop at that phoenix facility. more than 6 in 10 va centers were have found to have fudged wait time numbers. and a process of confirming the new head of the va, that process will start soon. secretary gibson has been named in the interim. tom tearantino joins us. let me get your reaction to the news of the day. the newsbergdahl. >> it's great news. it's great for him, great for his family. we want to make sure he has what he needs to recover and the only thing you can really say is welcome home, soldier. >> let's move over to the va story now. getting rid of -- and you know this. getting rid of one guy is not going to solve these problems. there's not going to be a honeymoon for the next secretary. what do you see the next month looking like at the va? >> it's going to be a tough

month. sloan gibson is a great leader. i think everyone in the veteran community has a lot of faith in his ability to mind the store. but what we need to do is create this real aggressive culture of accountability and break the bureaucratic inertia that's plagued the va for decades. >> i've heard that over and over this week. precisely how do we do that? how do we break the back of this buk rock si? >> one of the things you can do is empower whoever is in charge, whether it's the secretary or the deputy secretary, to actually get rid of some of the deadweight and get rid of the people cooking the books, lying to the patients, and lying to the american people. there's a bill that passed the house and should pass the senate very soon, at least we hope it does. this will empower the secretary to actually get rid of people who are cooking the books. >> we mentioned some new things in this audit. more than 60% of va centers changing dates. 13% of employees who say they were pressured to edit paperwork. how long do we think it might

take someone to fix these problems, these long wait times, poor care, et cetera? how long do we think it's going to take, and who might be up for the job? is there someone in particular you'd like to see in that post? >> first of all, wait times are primarily a process. it's a business problem. when you have medical center directors lying to their patients and lying to the va, you don't get the tools to solve that problem. maybe it's more money, more people, more efficient business practices. but this is an incredibly solvable problem. it just takes leaders stepping up and admitting what is wrong. that's what we need to see. we need this culture of accountability inside the va. anybody who takes over as va secretary, we think it should be someone who should either be an iraq or afghanistan veteran and knows the next generation of veterans so that the va can truly move into the 21st century. we need someone who's just as aggressive out in public in front of the american people as they are behind the doors reforming the va. >> you mentioned leadership. a lot of folks have said one of the major problems is the shortage, this doctor shortage at the va. there have been a number of

reports that said one of the root causes, hundreds of vacancies to fill. what say you to that? >> that is a huge problem. it's not just a problem for general medical care. we see this across the entire spectrum of care from physical to mental health. it is one of the major reasons that the va does have long wait times, but we can't tell that if medical center directors are lying to their patients. so before we start addressing the business concerns, we have to right the ship at the va and make sure that there is a culture of honesty and accountability. that's got to be the first step. once we do that, we can figure out how many doctors do we actually need and take aggressive action to resource the va so they can hire enough physicians to take care of the veterans that have earned this care. >> some prominent lawmakers, as you know, including house speaker john boehner have suggested privatization of the va would help tremendously. do you agree? >> no, not at all. in fact, everyone who knows the va medical system knows that privatizing the va would be a

disaster. veterans have specific injuries that are tied to their service, and unlike the general population, their injuries all tend to be interconnected. so the va does need to partner more with community-based nonprofits and local health care centers to help their overflow and to help send out some contract care, but it has to be centralized within a protected va system. not only is that generally cheaper, but it's more efficient because veterans can get coordinated care through their primary care provider. if i see a specialist or just any doctor i want for the multitude of injuries i have, there's no guarantee that my primary care physician knows what i'm doing, nor do my records ever make it back. >> tom tarantino, we'll have to leave it there. thank you, sir. five years after an abortion provider was gunned down, a woman has relaunched the movement. we'll talk to her live next.

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oklahoma this week put tough new restrictions on that state's abortion clinics. governor mary fallon signed the bill wednesday that requires clinics with doctors with admitting privileges present during the procedure. there are now 20 states that require abortion procedures to take place in a hospital if the fetus has reached a certain state of viability. the battle over abortion rights in this country has turned deadly at times. five years ago today, in fact, dr. george tiller, who provided a full range of reproductive services at his kansas clinic was shot dead at a church in wichita, kansas. his killer was sentenced to life in prison. julie berk heart worked side by side with him. she's now the founder and ceo of trust women. it's a national organization that protects the rights of doctors who provide reproductive health care. julie, good to see you. you reopened tiller's former clinic in kansas. the last person who held the job that you had today, dr. tiller,

was gunned down. how worried are you about your personal safety? >> hi. good afternoon, craig. you know, there are times here in kansas, in wichita, kansas, where we do worry about our safety. my safety, safety of staff, and safety of our physicians. but we work diligently to ensure that everyone remains safe. we work closely with local law enforcement to make sure that no harm comes to anybody else in this area. >> how have things changed in that community? how have things changed in this country, do you think, when it comes to abortion rights in the five years since dr. tiller's murder? >> well, fortunately, we have not seen anyone else in the abortion care field murdered or

harmed in such a way. there continues to be violence in terms of vandalism. there's stalking, intimidation, harassment. we have also continued to see a slew of legislation proposed at the state level to frankly outlaw abortion care. >> let's talk about some of these regulations you mentioned at the state level. there's one in oklahoma, one in missouri. abortion clinics in many states are being hit with targeted regulations. how do you think these new laws, how do you think they affect a woman's access to abortion providers, and what kind of effect do you think these state regulations are ultimately going to have on roe v. wade? >> well, what it does for women in real time, especially here in the midwest and the south where

there are great distances between clinics, it puts more of a financial burden on women who wish to seek abortion services. it costs them time away from their families and their jobs because they have to work harder to seek out this legal service. it's yet to be seen how this is really going to come down nationally. i think at some point these laws, especially when it comes to the admitting privileges and the structural regulations that are now being put on clinics, it's going to come to the supreme court at some point. but right now it's being dealt with case by case at the state level. >> julie, thank you. >> thank you. sex offenders in chicago. a new report says the police department in chicago is making it hard for them to stay on the right side of the law. we'll look at that.

also, the concussion cushion. the white house likes the idea so much, the teenage designer was at 1600 pennsylvania not once but twice this week. it's today's big idea. scover ca. hey! so i'm looking at my bill, and my fico® credit score's on here. we give you your fico® score each month for free! awesomesauce! wow! the only person i know that says that is...lisa? julie?! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card and see your fico® credit score.

hackers are winning the fight in cyberspace according to the 12th annual survey of cyber crimes, attacks are on the rise. the survey included 500 u.s. businesses, law enforcement services, and government agencies. more than a fourth say the attacks on them were an inside job. there were an average of 135 security breaches on each organization last year, and hackers are far more technologically advanced than those who are trying to stop them. the most common attack methods include mallware, phishing, and spyware. >> spieb >> cyber crimes aside, this is what's trending this minute. it's being called one of the

most awkward hugs in history. there it is right there. president obama was bidding farewell to his press secretary jay carney. when leaving the briefing room, the president goes in for the handshake, but carney apparently wants to hug it out. the president then decides to hug. now carney wants a handshake. it ends up being this mix of both with carney shaking the president's elbow. awkward. to florida now where everyone loves a lazy summer day. this black bear finds a cozy hammock to rest in while trying to get out of the sun. it happened in daytona beach. the bear eventually scampered off. the man who owns the house has since taken down his hammock. oh, it just won't go away. "gangman style" by korean rapper

psi has now hit 2 billion views on youtube. no other video comes close. the only other video with more than a billion, justin bieber's "baby." future generations will judge us. we want to update you on a story we first brought you last week about the princeton review. the company says it's updated the campus safety section on its website. that section links users to the university's safety page where prospective students can find crime statistics. this update comes after survivors of campus rape called on the company to include stats on sexual violence in college rankings. msnbc last week found more than a third of the links on princeton review's website were broken or blank altogether. sexual assault survivors are still calling on the company to also rank schools by the number of attacks reported on campuses. the princeton review is still

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let's get you up to date on the breaking news we've been following here this afternoon at msnbc. the only american soldier held prisoner in afghanistan, sergeant bowe bergdahl, has been released. u.s. officials say bergdahl's release was part of a negotiation that includes the release of five afghan detainees who had been held at guantanamo bay, cuba. bergdahl had been held by the taliban since june 30th, 2009. his parents released a statement to nbc a few moments ago. it reads in part, quote, we were so joyful and relieved when president obama called us today to give us the news that bowe is finally coming home. we cannot wait to wrap our arms around our son. we want to thank bowe's many supporters in idaho, around the nation, and around the world. we thank the amir of qatar for his efforts, and we want to

thank all of those in mthe many u.s. government agencies who never gave up. here's a quick look at other headlines making news on a saturday afternoon. pro golfer phil mickelson is one of three people being investigated for possible insider trading. carl and billy waters are also being investigated. "the wall street journal" reports that the investigation started in 2011 and was triggered by suspicious trades in clorox. in a statement, phil mickelson says, quote, i have done absolutely nothing wrong, i have cooperated with the government in this investigation and will continue to do so. i wish i could fully discuss this matter, but under the current circumstances, it's just not possible. mean while, days after nsa leaker edward snowden talked to nbc's brian williams, former new york city mayor michael bloomberg says snowden should be

prosecuted. he was asked whether snowden was a patriot, traitor, or something in between by nbc's david gregory. that will air tomorrow on "meet the press." and republicans are gathering for their annual republican leadership conference. senator ted cruz was one of the speakers today. >> the way you win elections is you stand for principle and you empower the people. [ applause [ applause ] we need to stand for liberty. we need to stand for the bill of rights. all of the bill of rights. and while the va scandal continues, there's a new chapter in another scandal now. this one involving the los angeles clippers and their embattled owner donald sterling. late friday, the nba announced a settlement with sterling's wife shelly allowing the clippers to be sold to former microsoft executive steve ballmer. if the deal gets final approval, the league says it will forego a

move to remove sterling as owner. miguel, donald sterling is not going out without a fight. what do we know about this billion-dollar lawsuit? >> craig, good afternoon. yeah, the billion-dollar lawsuit is basically filed by sterling's attorneys, saying that he was forced out of the league and banned by the nba. sterling, of course, wanted to fight that. there was a meeting that was to be held on tuesday, this coming tuesday, that would have essentially ousted sterling from the league and forced him to sell. that's why that $1 billion lawsuit was filed. i just spoke to his attorney a few moments ago. he says they're now reviewing that lawsuit. there's a chance it could be dismissed and pulled away, but they're certainly going forward with it at this point. i also asked his attorney about the several questions and reports that have been circulating regarding donald sterling's mental capacity. his response to that was that his -- they are all absolutely incompletely true, they are false, and his client is certainly capable of making

smart and wise decisions. and at this point, they are pushing forward with that $1 billion lawsuit, craig. >> all right. miguel almaguer this afternoon with new information. thank you, sir. from california to chicago now. a new report finds a troubling pattern at that city's police department. a local reporter found cops failed to register more than 600 sex offenders in just the first three months of this year alone. apparently offenders would show up to register as required by law but were often turned away because police said they were simply too busy. a reporter for wbze radio in chicago uncovered this story. rob, you stood in line with some of these offenders as they tried to register. what's the process like there? chicago? is it supposed to be relatively quick? or is there a lot of paperwork and red tape involved?

>> well, there's a lot of paperwork and red tape involved, and to be honest, i've asked the police to go in and watch the process play out, and they have not let me do that yet. but guys show up, they go to the police headquarters, and then they've just been standing in line for hours and hours and hours. the problem with that is that, you know, some of them go away on their own. others, you know -- i was out there several time where is officers would come out of the office around noon or 1:00 in the afternoon and say, all right, guys, we're pretty much at capacity. we're only going to be able to get this far in the line, so the rest of you, you're not going to get in today. come back another day. the problem with that is obviously then, a, police don't know where those folks are, and, b, will they come back? then if they don't come back, then police are out wasting their time and resources, you know, busting down doors and arresting them in their homes because they've failed to register when they tried to register. and to carry that a few steps further, potentially they end up in the cook county jail.

we found a number of people who had tried to register were turned away and then, you know, at the end of april they were in the cook county jail where it costs $52,000 a year to house inmates. so a significant burden on taxpayers that could have been avoided if we were just smarter about how we process these folks. and of course, nobody wants to champion sex offenders. no legislator wants to put on their campaign literature, hey, i made it easier for sex offenders to register, but that's what we want to do here if we want to know where these guys are and don't want to have these other costs involved. >> i'm curious, what's been the reaction of folks in chicago to your story? again, these offenders can't get registered, it means people won't be made aware that they're moving into their neighborhoods, right? >> yeah, that's one of the problems. many of these folks, you know, they get turned away and they probably, hopefully come back and ultimately do know. but people have been offended by

just kind of the ridiculousness of the situation. and so we've heard, you know, comments on our website or friends i've had or e-mails from folks, you know, people have been amazed and astounded. but this is one of the problems. you know, we pass these sex offender laws, and again, nobody wants to champion them. but when you pass a law, often in the implementation, there are some problems. and this is where we need police departments who are on the front lines doing this stuff to step up and say, okay, hey, legislators, here are some changes we need to make this run for efficiently. again, it's such a toxic top thtopic that nobody wants to touch it, which is where we come in and why folks should support their local public radio stations and newspapers. >> i like what you did there. as i understand it, is this pretty much a staffing issue? is it the chicago police department either not having the

adequate resources or not willing to allocate adequate resources to register all these folks? or is that an oversimplification? >> you know, that's what -- it seems to me that's the case. again, i have not been able to interview anyone from the police department. they have so far refused. although, they said yesterday that i'll be able to talk to someone, the person in charge of this office next week. and again, what you have here is legislators passing laws and then it's, you know, unfunded mandate that then the police department have to actually implement. now, one of the interesting things here in illinois is that there's now a $100 charge for sex offenders before they can be registered. but this again is putting up a barrier. it's like, okay, you don't have -- a lot of these folks are homeless. they then come into the office. we're going to say, oh, you don't have $100? we're not going to follow you then. we're not going to want to know where you are until you get that

$100. a lot of these folks are homeless. they're not going to have $100. so they can't register. what do they do? they go away and get arrested in a park in six months drinking, get a failure to register charge, then they're in the jail and get convicted to our severely overcrowded prison system here in illinois. >> wbez's rob wildebore. a fine piece of reporting. thank you for coming by to share it with us. >> thanks for taking time to cover this. nine years ago today, one of the greatest mysteries in u.s. history was solved. who's deep throat? >> tonight we know the identity of the secret washington source known as deep throat, the man who gave the information to two young reporters for "the washington post" in the scandal called watergate that ended with the first ever resignation of an american president. >> mark felt revealed he was that secret source in a "vanity fair" article.

during watergate, he was the number two man at the fbi. his identity had been the subject of guessing games and speculation for more than 30 years. he says he came forward because his family convinced him his actions were heroic. but not everyone felt that way. >> i don't think deep throat is a hero. i think deep throat is a snake. >> instead of being deputy director of the fbi with the highest esteem of his colleagues and prosecutional reputation, he'll be known as deep throat. i think it's a sad legacy, i believe. >> felt's story was also told in the book and movie "all the president's men." this country's historically black colleges and universitys are changing in a dramatic way. i've spent the last several months taking a close look at precisely how and what these changes mean for their future and ours. we're going to kick off our special series next hour. also, the concussion cushion. it's captured the attention of

the obama administration so much so, in fact, its young designer was at the white house twice this week. she's here with us as well. it's today's big idea. [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. we thought it was going to be just another phase, but she's a total natural. which makes us karate parents. one day i noticed her gi looked dingier than the other kids. but now since tide plus bleach alternative has more whitening power... i used it to wash her gi and now she's all...pow! she looks sharp like a dragon strike. that's not a term. i'm just waiting for her to get into hockey. hockey's for canadians. i'm canadian. and i'm not. [ female announcer ] tide plus bleach alternative. that's my tide plus. [ female announcer ] tide plus bleach alternative. hi, are we still on for tomorrow? tomorrow.

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(meowright on cue. (laughs) it's more than just a meal,

it's meow mix mealtime. with wholesome ingredients and irresistible taste, no wonder it's the only one cats ask for by name. we've got to have better research, better data, better safety equipment, better protocols. we've got to have every parent and coach and teacher recognize the signs of concussions, and we need more athletes to understand how important it is to do what we can to prevent injuries and to admit them when they do happen. >> president obama at the white house earlier this week for the concussion summit. it is something that we talk a lot about on this show, safety in sports. this week it got a double dose of publicity from the president. athletes and their families went to d.c. to raise awareness about brain health. earlier, the president welcomed kids from around the country for the annual white house science fair. all of this happened on the same day. one invention that caught his eye was the concussion cushion, a new type of football helmet

designed to reduce the risk of head injuries. the woman behind it, maria haines, joins me live now from los angeles. maria, good to see you. a busy week for you. >> yes, it has been a very busy week. >> two times at the white house. how cool is that? >> it was such an honor, a great experience. >> let's talk about this big idea. how was it born? how did it come about? >> well, i wanted to do -- okay. sorry. my senior year i had a science fair experiment that i needed to get done. i wanted to do it on something that i absolutely love. i love football. i want to become the first female college football coach. i love football. i managed my high school football team for three years. one day on my way to practice, i was getting water for the boys, and i had my cell phone in my

hand. and i had dropped my cell phone, but because it had a rubber case on it, i picked it up and knew it was completely fine because i had dropped it so many times with that type of case on it. previous to that, i would buy the harder plastic cases that were rhinestone. they're super cute and match my outfits, but whenever i would drop my phone with that case on it, they would tend to break and sometimes my phone would get damaged. it kind of sparked this idea in my mind. hey, what if i could add something like this to the outside of a football helmet? would that reduce the impact like it did for my phone? that's kind of how it came about. >> and it looks like you have a demonstration there for us. >> right. i brought the track and my football helmets. it's kind of out of range. i can explain to you how the process works. >> yeah, walk us through it, sure. >> so to begin my experiment, i decided to test two different

materials. i have a foam here and a gel. i have mounted them on robots, but i did not get to program them, so they're ran manually versus mechanically. i did nine overall testings. my first test was obviously the control with just the two hard helmets together. so you take the first helmet and move it up to a fixed location that's right here. it'll be blocking me, but i can show you. so you move it up to that location. then you pull back the second helmet all the way. it keeps going and going and going. the track was originally much longer to build up acceleration. but then you would release the second helmet. it would run into the first one. i would measure the distance it had moved from the fixed location and compare it to the

control experiment, which was the first one, like i said, with just the two hard helmets. i did nine different combinations. for example, a gel to gel, a foam to foam. for this example, it's a gel to foam. to just different combinations to see what would work best. >> what's been the response to this? what's been the response to your helmet? >> people seem really interested in it. i've had a lot of people come up to me and contact me, wanting to know if i want to continue on with it, and i absolutely do. they think it sounds like a good idea, so they want to see -- get some more testing done to see if it can really be something that could hopefully be on the market one day. >> what did president obama say to you about it? >> he seemed really impressed, and he liked -- the conclusion was from my testing, the gel to gel reduced the impact by 46%. so he seemed to be interested in

that. >> what -- before i let you get out of here, how is this love of football? how did that come to be? >> oh, man. to be honest, i have no idea. my first football game, i was a cheerleader when i was in elementary, like grade school. my grandma would take me to football games. i grew up in oklahoma, so it's a very big football community. >> it's a religion in oklahoma. that's right. >> yeah, so that's probably where it sparked. i just love the community of football -- that football has. everyone's involved from the players to the coaches to the families, fans, everyone's involved. i absolutely love football. >> maria haines, it's today's big idea. it is quite fascinating. thank you for swinging by to share it with us. we're glad you could carve out some time between your white house visits. >> thank you for having me. >> and do you have a big idea? let us know about it on twitter using #whatsthebigidea.

you can shoot us an e-mail as well. still to come, a social media scavenger hunt. >> some are green or black or even purple. they grow in your garden. go to trash, find the cash. >> we can't get enough of this. mystery man on twitter has people racing all over california. he's leaving clues that are leading the way to envelopes of hidden cash. he just left a new clue this hour. we will bring it to you next. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer.

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now to the latest on that breaking news we've been following this afternoon. the release of u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl. he'd been held captive by the taliban in afghanistan for the past five years. bergdahl's release today was made possible by the pentagon's approval of the release of five afghan detainees at guantanamo bay, cuba. that decision has raised some

questions. most notably from arizona senator john mccain now, who while praising bergdahl's release just a few moments ago, released a statement that reads in part, these particular individuals are hardened terrorists who have the blood of americans and countless afghans on their hands. i am eager to learn what precise steps are being taken to ensure that these vicious and violent taliban extremists never return to fight against the united states and our partners or engage in any activities that can threaten the prospects for peace and security in afghanistan. the american people and their afghan partners deserve nothing less. again, that's from arizona senator john mccain. right now, the mad dash for money continues in california. a mystery money dropper just minutes ago gave another hint on twitter about where he left a batch of angry bird eggs filled with money. here's what he wrote on that twitter account. by the way, it's hidden cash, in case you're not following it.

hermosa beach between the pier and volleyball nets with you faced ocean. remember, there are 36. go. people have stalked that twitter account to find where the next pile of money can be found. here's nbc's gabe gutierrez with more on the phenomenon. >> reporter: all over los angeles friday night, more cash mobs. >> i'm missing the dodger game, but hey -- >> how much did you get? >> $186. >> reporter: what began as a scavenger hunt -- >> oh, my god. we got to go! >> reporter: may now be a movement. >> i recognized the parking lot right away. i started looking and found it inside a bush. >> reporter: the original @hiddencash twitter handle has exploded. roughly 1700 new followers per hour to more than 350,000. now the anonymous donor behind the account is reflecting on what caused his idea that started nine days ago in san francisco to spread around the

world. there really is no agenda here, he writes online. not political, not business, not religious, other than bringing people together in a positive way. >> it's not so greedy. people are helping each other, talking to each other. >> reporter: just like he wanted, copycats are following his lead from boulder, colorado -- >> it's taken off more than we ever expected it to. it's just been great to see the happiness on people's faces. >> reporter: to raleigh, north carolina -- >> if it wasn't for these people, i wouldn't be where i'm at today. might as well give back to them. >> reporter: to tampa, florida -- >> i opened it and saw a 20. i pulled it out and realized there's three here. >> reporter: lucky winners posting selfies on facebook and twitter. the frenzy drawing such huge crowds, the hunt's creator is offering a word of caution. please walk and drive safely. a young woman ran right in front of my car a few days ago. for now, the drops will continue while he plans what he calls a big announcement soon. >> gosh, i'm just so excited and

so happy. >> reporter: too often bad news travels fast. this time good news spread faster. >> that was nbc's gabe gutierrez. coming up, more on that breaking news out of afghanistan. the only u.s. soldier held by the taliban is free. details on that. also, dramatic changes at our historically black colleges and universities. next hour, we'll start our special series where we look at what these changes mean for the future of those schools. y chang. little things, anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big. alzheimer's association. the brains behind saving yours.

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unlimited. as in, no limits on your hard-earned cash back. as in no more dealing with those rotating categories. the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase, every day. don't settle for anything less. i'll keep asking. what's in your wallet? breaking news this hour. u.s. soldier held captive by the taliban for five years is now free. we've got some new details on his release. >> ordinance passes 11 votes to 6 votes. [ cheers and applause ] >> history in houston. that city just passed a controversial ordinance protecting lgbt residents. i'll talk to the city's mayor who led the fight. and phil mickelson is under

the microscope. he's accused of insider trading, at least being investigated for insider trading. we have new details on that. we also kick off our special series on historically black colleges and universities. i've spent time on several campuses over the past few months. i'll show you how these schools are changing in a dramatic way and what that means for their future. good saturday afternoon to you. i'm craig melvin. this is msnbc. we start this hour with the big news of the day. the release of u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl in afghanistan. he was released from captivity just a few hours ago. the taliban is now also confirming bergdahl's release saying, quote, our talks finally proved successful for prisoners' swap. we returned our valued guest to his countrymen and they released our people, including the top five commanders held in guantanamo bay since 2002. let's get right to nbc's kristen welker, who's at the white house. let's start with the last part

of that taliban statement there, the release of the five prisoners from guantanamo bay. we heard from senator john mccain last hour, also criticizing the administration for negotiating with terrorists, i suppose, in his world. what's the administration saying about that part of the this? >> that's a good question, craig. i was just speaking to a senior administration official about that very point, and i said, what do you say to your critics who would argue that you're going against u.s. policy, which is of course not to negotiate with terrorists? and the response was that there were no direct negotiations between u.s. officials and the taliban. instead, messages were sent through a qatar officials engaged in these negotiations. they also make a point that bowe bergdahl was captured while there was a battle going on -- not a direct battle. but in the midst of a war. so these circumstances required

them to bring him home because the u.s. policy is also not to leave one man behind. so that is the reaction from the white house to those critics, craig. of course, we're getting more details about how specifically bowe bergdahl was released, his transfer. it happened at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. special forces went into the eastern part of the afghanistan, secured his release. we're being told by one senior administration official that once bergdahl was on the hell kocontinue continueer, he wrote down "sf" meaning special forces. when they acknowledged, yes, they were special forces, he became emotional and broke down. so you can only imagine the level of relief he was feeling when he realized that he was, in fact, free after being held since 2009, craig. president obama called bowe bergdahl's parents earlier today, told them that their son was in good condition. i'm also being told that he was able to walk around.

we're getting our first statement from bowe bergdahl's parents, craig. i'll read it to you. this is from bob and jenny. they say, quote, we're so joyful and relieved when president obama called us today to give us the news that bowe is finally coming home. we cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son. we want to thank bowe's many supporters in idaho, around the nation, and around the world. we thank the amir of qatar for his efforts. and of course we want to take this opportunity to thank all those in the many u.s. government agencies who never gave up. today we are ecstatic. i'm being told, craig, that we probably won't hear from bowe bergdahl's family today. they're probably processing this news as we all are. hard to imagine their level of emotion right now and their level of relief right now as they process the fact that their son, who's been taken since 2009, is, in fact, free. bowe bergdahl will be treated, medically treated to make sure he's okay.

he'll then head to bagram airfield and begin to make his way back to the u.s. at this point in time, there's no realti timeline for his retu. officials want to make sure he's in sound health before they bring him back to the u.s. we are being told he's in good condition. >> good news. kristen, thank you. i want to bring in msnbc military analyst general barry mccaffrey. he's a former gulf war division commander and former national security councilmember. general, first of all, in broad terms, your reaction to the news. >> well, it's good news. the armed forces have a continuing commitment to never leaving behind either the bodies of our fallen comrades or those who are mia or prisoners. so this is good. we're losing all our leverage in afghanistan as we withdraw. so i'm glad the president got in there and was able to secure the soldier's release. >> what can we make of the five people who were released from guantanamo bay? >> too bad we can't be more

straightforward in our conversations. of course we negotiated with terrorists. you know, whether we used an intermediary or not. we released five very senior taliban terrorists. our past experience over the last several years is that it's likely they'll go right back to jihadist endeavors. we've killed or recaptured several of these guantanamo release pows on the battlefield. but i think it was probably the right thing to do. zero out the account in afghanistan. we're coming out. but these are dangerous people, the 149 left in guantanamo. >> general, is this not also then a dangerous precedent? if it is as you suggest, if this is a negotiation with terrorists, what does that mean for future negotiations? >> well, i mean, that's always been the guiding principle. certainly israelis have been pretty adamant on it. if you negotiation the release of hostages, you then create the incentives for further political

kidnappin kidnappings. having said that, again, it was pretty important to the armed forces to get this soldier back. i might add, we want to find out explicitly how did he leave u.s. military control? he was not captured in battle. he left voluntarily and ended up in captivity. so that should be definitely answered. >> but general -- >> by the department of defense. >> what you just said at the end, isn't that very much in contention, the fact he left his post voluntarily? >> well, i don't know. again, i think what we need to do is find out the facts. but it certainly would not the case that he was captured in battle. >> what will be next for bowe bergdahl when he gets home? i imagine there will be quite the substantial debriefing by government officials, no? >> well, i'm sure right now the intel people are debriefing him to find out where does he think he was held, who were the people that held him, what were the conditions of his captivity.

so the intelligence group will talk to him. at some point, there needs to be a public reckoning, accounting of how he left u.s. military security and ended up in the hands of the taliban. >> retired general barry mccaffrey, general, as always, thank you. >> good to be with you. also today, it is a new day at the va, but there are still many old problems to fix, and they might be a bit bigger than we first thought. an audit finds failures didn't stop at that phoenix facility. more than 6 in 10 va centers were found to have fudged numbers to make wait times seem shorter. the process of confirming a new head of the va will start soon. friday eric shinseki resigned as va secretary. deputy secretary sloan gibson has been named interim secretary. president obama says he's on a learning curve. coming up, a controversy new law in houston. the city council there has just approved an ordinance to protect lgbt residents. i'm going to talk to the driving force behind that fight, that city's mayor.

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the ordinance passes 11 votes to 6 votes. [ cheers and applause ] >> and that was the reaction wednesday night in houston when the city council passed what was called the equal rights ordinance. until then, the city was the nation's largest without some kind of anti-discrimination law. 14 individual groups are now protected from discrimination, including the lgbt community in houston. it was very much a public and personal victory for houston's openly gay mayor. she wrote the ordinance months ago and signed it into law

shortly after it was passed. mayor parker joins me live now from houston. mayor parker, good to see you. first of all, what do people in houston have today that they did not have wednesday morning? >> they have the opportunity for local redress if they have been discriminated against. for those that are covered under the federal statute, obviously they had an opportunity to go through the federal court system. but this gives those people and the lgbt community the opportunity to work with the local houston community. >> before this week, houston was this country's largest city without a law like this. you say it's been on your to-do list for a long time. what finally prompted you and city lawmakers to get something like this on the books? >> well, i had pledged to do this before i was elected mayor. i said at the time that i would do it when it was appropriate and when it could be done with

the full attention of the city council. i've been mayor for 4 1/2 years. i dropped into the office in the midst of a recession, and i had a lot of other priorities. one of the things that was surprising to me, though, was i thought i would be doing what most cities have done. that is add to an existing equal right or nondiscrimination ordinance to cover the gay community and the transgender community. however, houston didn't have any local ordinance. so we wrote the ordinance from scratch. we've been working on it for about six months. it's been before council for three weeks. i'm happy to have it passed. >> this is something that impacts you and your family on a personal level. you were visibly moved on wednesday after the city council vote. you talked about your kids. i want to play a little bit of what you said about your son at that meeting wednesday night.

>> my beautiful son is also gay, and the reason he is my son is because his family rejected him. i don't want him discriminated against because he is black. i do not want him discriminated against because he's a man. i do not want him discriminated against because he's gay. this ordinance covers all of those categories. >> what does this mean for your wife and your three children? >> well, this was a -- it is not only for my family that i did this, but it clearly impacts my entire family in various ways. our daughters are biracial. finally the city of houston has an ordinance that protects those of different races from discrimination locally. actually, i should rephrase that.

no ordinance prevents discrimination. an ordinance allows redress of that discrimination. this gives us an opportunity to intervene, to mediate, to try to find a solution, and if we cannot do that, then to litigate. >> really quickly before i let you get out of here, this is your third and final term as mayor. i have read that you don't have plans to be on a ballot again. what's going to be next for you? >> i don't know that's quite accurate to say i don't have plans to be on a ballot again. i don't have a plan for when i leave the mayor's office. i would like to continue to serve the citizens of this state in some way. >> oh, sounds like mayor parker is running for governor, congress. >> i have a candidate for governor in this election, and i'm really happy with her. >> all right. we'll leave it there. thank you, mayor, and congratulations. >> thank you. president obama fielded questions on everything from the va scandal to embracing his graying hair when he sat down with kelly ripa and michael

strahan this week. perhaps most revealing, however, was how the president says he would spend the night if he did not have his secret service tagging along. >> i'd go take a walk. i would just walk out this gate. i might walk up to the lincoln memorial, sit on there. you know, maybe i'd wander around and find myself at a little outdoor cafe or something and sit and order something and just watch people go by. the thing you miss most about being president is anonymity. chocolate is my other favorite... oh yeah, and frosted! what's your most favorite of all? hmm...the kind i have with you. me too. don't just visit new york. visit tripadvisor new york.

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breaking news we've been talking about this afternoon here at msnbc. the only american soldier held prisoner in afghanistan, sergeant bowe bergdahl, has been released. his parents in idaho say they are full of joy and are relieved. sergeant bergdahl has been in taliban custody since june of 2009. his release was part of a negotiation that includes the release of five afghan detainees held at guantanamo bay, cuba. those detainees have just left, we're told. they are now en route to qatar. a senior administration official tells nbc news that the move does not violate a bedrock american principle to not negotiate with terrorists because the united states was never involved in direct talks with the taliban. again, that coming from a senior administration official. pro golfer phil mickelson and two others are the subject of a federal investigation now. "the wall street journal" reports the fbi and the securities and exchange commission are looking into an

insider trading probe that involves finance, gambling, and sports, which reportedly started in 2011 with a probe into trades of clorox. phil mickelson released this statement saying, quote, i have done absolutely nothing wrong. i have cooperated with the government in this investigation and will continue to do so. i wish i could fully discuss this matter, but under the current circumstances, it's just not possible. again, that statement coming from phil mickelson today. joining me now on the phone, scott wapner. scott, first of all, what are authorities looking for specifically in this investigation? >> craig, it's nice to speak with you. this goes, as you said, back to 2011. they're really looking for patterns of trades, you know, in the days before carl icahn made this $12.5 billion bid for clorox, someone made some very

well-timed options trades, essentially bets on where that stock was going to go in a very short period of time. sophisticated trades, large trades, not the kind of trades that your average joe on the street is going to make. days later, mr. icahn, in fact, made the offer of $12.5 billion for clorox. the options made a huge amount of money for investors, who got into them just days earlier. 600% gain in just four days. so investigators really want to know, at least at this point, from what we can tell from the published reports is who knew what and who knew what when. icahn adamant he absolutely did nothing wrong. i think that's what he told me when he spoke last night. >> what's next in terms of the investigation? >> it's really hard to say. the fact of the matter is at least at this point, we don't even know exactly what the fbi and the s.e.c. are specifically looking at. you released -- or you said what

mickelson's statement was today. when i spoke to mr. icahn, he said, we're unaware of an fbi investigation. we haven't gotten any subpoenas or anything like that. we've done nothing wrong. my 50-year record sun blemished. i've never given any insider information to anyone. i suppose, presumably, you know, investigators would be looking to speak with all three parties. phil mickelson, who's playing in ohio as we speak, this gambler, billy walters, in las vegas, and mr. icahn, who's built his reputation as one of the most powerful guys on wall street. certainly, a guy who's been reported to be in the last couple of years the richest guy on wall street. he's said to be worth now more than $20 billion. >> cnbc's scott wapner with the very latest on this investigation. scott, thank you. >> craig, thanks. when people who look like me were not allowed to attend america's colleges and universities, we went to hbcus,

historically black colleges and universities. that is how they started, but they are changing. in some cases, out of necessity. today we start what's going to be a weeks' long look at not just the challenges facing hbcus, but how they're meeting those challenges, innovating, and aggressively recruiting students who are not black. we've spent several months traveling to colleges talking to folks, experts, leaders, students, and alum. we start this afternoon with a look at the tradition, history, and number-one challenge all hbcus are up against, money. at florida a&m university's annual rivalry game against bethune cookman university, we knew we'd find proud fans and alumni who flock to campuses,

like annette harris, class of 1962. >> it wasn't integration. you just had your choices. i wanted to get a higher education. i don't forget the bridge that brought me over. >> john smith met his wife christine. >> i'm actually a second generation a&m, third generation hbcu. grandmother went to bennett. mama went to bennett. daddy went to fam. >> what was it about the hbcu experience that's different from an experience you would have gotten at a florida state? >> definitely smaller classes and more people like me. you know, growing up in ft. lauderdale, didn't have a lot of people at my school that were like me. so going to hbcu meant lifetime friends and just an awesome, awesome experience. just a family. >> that's become a hallmark of historically black colleges and universities. the original hbcu mission was

simple, to help blacks compete by enabling them to earn a degree at a time when they were barred from other institutions. nearly all 105 schools that exist today were established after the civil war, but the very first opened its doors in 1837. cheney university of pennsylvania, then known as the institute for colored youth. cheney has struggled in recent years, like many hbcus, and the problem usually boils down to money. >> some serious financial concerns were weighing heavily on the campus of howard university today. >> jackson state plans to pursue litigation against grambling state and others. >> south carolina state in orange burg is on the verge of going broke. thursday, north carolina lawmakers started considering a budget proposal that could force elizabeth city state university to shut down. last year, st. paul's college in lawrenceville, virginia, did just that, closing its doors after 125 years.

st. paul's president will preside over an auction of the school's assets next month. >> i'd like for them to come and just live with me for a week and see what you have to do when your school is about to go belly up. >> fundraising is one of the biggest problems for hbcus. >> did you know that less than 10% of all hbcu alums give back to that hbc snuru? >> uh-huh. we get caught up in the tradition and not necessarily what needs to happen to continue to grow. >> personal question. >> right. >> do you give? >> right now, no. i'm still giving to sally mae. >> at most hbcus the endowments are comparatively small. the hbcu with the largest endowme endowment, howard university with $513 million. but the endowments at all 105 hbcus combined is still less than 10% of the endowment at harvard. a recent university of

pennsylvania report found schools with smaller endowments have more problems with accreditation, recruiting, student retention, and leadership. professor mary beth gasman co-wrote that report. >> most have tiny fundraising staffs, not like large research institutions or well-endowed small colleges. they have tiny fundraising staffs. they don't have the infrastructure to raise a lot of money. >> we will need to have much greater support from those who are -- who have some affinity with the mission of the school and recognize the opportunities hbcus provide. not just as a vehicle for african-american students but as a model of diversity. >> to stay competitive, some of the institutions are diversifying. schools founded to train teachers are retooling to turn out engineers and scientists. >> it's called laser induced breakdown speck tros comy. >> thanks to intense recruitment

abroad, some campuses once virtually all black and american are now brown and international. >> it's latinos unidos. >> they're vowing to change what they do but not who they are. to build 21st century hbcus for alumni and future alumni. >> who did you bring with you? >> high school band from san antonio, texas. >> what was the purpose in bringing them? >> educate them. they need to see the experience. >> so you think the mission should change? >> if it changes and it's still doing what it's supposed to do, educating our future america, so be it. >> let's continue the conversation now. the director of african-american studies at the university of connecticut joins us. also a graduate of howard university, we should note. julian malveaux is an economist, a writer. also, the former president of a college mentioned in the piece there, bennett college for women. and walter kimbro, the president of dillard university in new

orleans. we had him on a few weeks ago. he promised he would come back. he made good on that promise. good to see all of you. we talked about schools -- a few of the schools that may have to shut their doors. how dire is this situation facing this country's historically back colleges and universities? >> well, first let me thank you and commend you on the package you did on dr. angelou. it was wonderful. >> thank you. >> as i sat here, i really appreciated it. secondly, the package you did on hbcus does drill down to what the challenges are. it's money. plain old money. if you look at a place like a dartmouth or a howard, you're looking at -- i'm sorry, harvard. you're looking at a $1 billion plus endowment. you're only supposed to spend down that which you frern it. that's your scholarship money, your endowed professorships. all of those things you don't have in your regular budget. we have tiny endowments at bennett college.

when i was there, we had a $12 million endowment, which meant that you're looking at a small amount of scholarships. young ladies who are phenomenal get offers that match it. oftentimes we can't. i notice you raise the question with one of the people you talked to about the percentage of giving being low. at many of our colleges, spellman is almost 40%. at bennett, it was a third. so people are giving. but as mary beth said, who's a friend, we don't have -- i had five people on my development staff. how much can they actually do? if america embraces the notion that hbcus are important, which they must, then we need the kind of support. let me say one more thing,

because i know my colleagues have lots to say. it's always great to see president -- can i call you hip hop? >> yeah, sure you can. >> okay. but in any case, when you look at the state universities that we're talking about closing, elizabeth city state, savannah, these are state universities that were starved. let me repeat that, starved. >> i'm glad you brought that up. dr. kimbro, we should note you run a private institution. are you facing the same kind of money squeeze? >> yeah, it's the same thing. dr. malveaux, she's former president of bennett college and member of usf institution. she described it perfectly. we have students who really come from meager means. so if 35% of all college students nationally are eligible for the federal pell grant, on my campus, it's 78%. so i just deal with more students -- it isn't that they aren't academically talented.

they just don't have the same level of resources. so when you're an underresourced institution serving underresourced people, you're going to have some of those challenges. so she's exactly right. our students just don't have those kind of finances. they don't have the generational wealth as other communities. so how do you save up money to go to college when you don't even own your home? those are the challenges. >> and to that point -- and i'll just be kind of a first-person testimonial here, which is that i'm a howard alum, but i'm barely a howard alum. i did exactly what happens with very many students with hbcus, which is i got to my junior year, my father passed away, we had financial difficulty, and i had to drop out of school. i was fortunately able to work, save money, come back, graduate, get a ph.d. and go on to the career i wanted. it could have just as easily gone the other way. what we're talking about with hbcus, we're not talking about hbcus. we're talking about the black/white wealth gap in the country. in terms of completion rate,

endowment, those are symptoms of bigger problems. >> your point about the -- >> dr. malveaux, hang on one second. we have to take a quick commercial break. our endowment here at msnbc is not large either. we've got to -- >> but you're going to grow it. >> we're going to take a quick break. when we come back, i want to spend time talking about the effect of that recent change to the federal student loan program in this country. what that has meant for hbcus specifically. we'll continue the conversation right after this. ♪ [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ she can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ what's your favorite kind of

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you talk about parent plus loans and what changes to the loan program that particular loan program in this country, what that has meant for hbcus. you wrote, parent plus loans are awarded based on a parent's credit score. with little notice, in october 2011, the department of education tightened the application of credit rules, making it more difficult for parents with less than perfect credit reports to be approved for the loan. what has that changed? seemingly innocuous change to some, perhaps. what has that change meant for historically black colleges and universities specifically? >> because the generational wealth gap, it meant people didn't have resources to fall back on to basically take care of their children. they might have had a -- now, if your late was on your mortgage payment but you still paid the

tuition, that should not have been a problem. but indeed when people look at the whole course of your credit score, what i know is that clark atlanta university lost almost 500 students. i know that bennett college lost 10% of its students. brother kimbro could talk about what was lost there. we lost almost 16,000 students in the hbcu landscape because of parent plus. let me say one more thing. he's talked about his own experience of having to leave school and come back. there is no level playing field when we deal with hbcus. the accrediting organization measures your graduation rates. but i had so many students who would leave and come back, personal problems, whatever. i had one woman who would work all fall to come in the spring. it took her eight years to graduate. that was seen as a negative. to me it's a positive. she was determined to get her education. but the ways that we are measured are very unlike the ways that others are measured.

the parent plus loan was devastating. >> can i add to that quickly? in addition to being an alum of howard university, i also spent 11 years as a faculty member at spellman college. one of the things we discovered was we did indeed have students who would have to leave for financial reasons, but when they did the calculations, we actually had a higher completion rate than we should have given the level of economic difficulty that our students were facing. so what that said was that we had kind of a triage thing with all hands on deck. faculty are traditionally accepting salaries lower than they might be able to get somewhere else. people are contributing to an effort to make sure you do whatever you can to get students out. in my own personal case, i was able to graduate because my mentor, dr. elizabeth clark lewis, went to the ends of the earth to make sure. she felt she had a real racial responsibility to make sure that she got me out of howard university. she saw in me part of herself. i think that's an important part of this tradition. >> you alluded to accreditation

there, dr. malveaux. dr. kimbro, is the way we accredit historically black colleges and universities, is that a system that's broken? >> i think accredit to bes are doing a good job. the challenge is one of the key indicators they look at it relates back to the issues of finances. accreditors want to make sure you have the appropriate level of finance to handle business. we're under the gun just because of everything that's been mentioned in terms of the generational wealth gap, income inequality. if that's the primary pop lagts that you serve, that puts strains on the entire institution. just looking at the parent plus loan, that all got caught up under the concern about the debt that college students have. we've heard a whole lot about that. so they change those rules so that any adverse credit action over the last year would make people ineligible for that. then we found out later there was a study done recently that found out that the default rate

on a parent plus loan was lower than that of other government loan programs. so the question was, why are we making this a problem when it wasn't a problem to begin with? and so when creditors are looking at those things, i think it can be fair, but the broader is, how do we even the playing field to make sure there are resources for those institutions that are going above and beyond serving the students who have the greatest need? that's my concern with not just accreditation but the new, you know, ideas about the federal rating of colleges and universities. if you don't calculate all of that, you're comparing apples and oranges. so that's more the concern for me. let's stop worrying about loan rates. i don't want to have loan conversations at all. let's increase pell so it matches what's needed today. we don't want to have that conversation. we're trying to limit money on one end, and then we want raises on the other. what are people supposed to do? >> and when you look at the pell, when it was instituted, the purpose was for it to cover at least half if not more of

college costs. now it maybe covers a quarter of it. so people have to come up with more that her obviously unable to do. and while i agree with you mostly about the accredit tors, what i think both of us come to the table, they have all these formulas that make no sense to me. when they say it's supposed to be four times your budget. >> that's something i heard on the other college presidents as well. i want to take a break. when we come back, i want to talk about two things specifically that they seemed to be doing specialization and recruitment. we'll talk about that on the other side. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk.

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it's important that the graduates go out and do other things in the world. one of the things i'm guarding against and i'm cautioning against in the system is becoming alum knock ra sis. >> you're clannish. >> the obnoxious, i can't get around it. also the best way to serve the institution is going out and doing other things. i did have to mention quickly about the caliber of the output i think sometimes is the other question of how good the education people are receiving is. and just whenever people try to negatively compare, my two close friends from howard university are the mayor of newark and mayor of atlanta. both of them wanted to go home to their home cities and become mayors. >> one of the things that struck me when i went around to some of these institutions and spent time talking about the 21st

century and more than one college president said the secret is going to be specialization, having an institution that becomes known primarily for one thing, whether it's engineering, whether it's producing a number of black physicists, how important is specialization going to be in the next generation? >> i think that's an issue for all colleges and universities. people are trying to find out what is their niche, where they stand out because we all can't be all things to everyone. let's select several things we do well. you mentioned physics and dillard is the number two producer in the country. that's one of others. so everyone has to do that. but i'm not just hearing the circles. i'm hearing that wholeheartedly across higher education. so it is important that we aren't just everybody is doing the same kinds of things. pick a few things and do that exceptionally well. >> we're going to end with you, doctor. how optimistic are you about the

future of colleges in this country? >> i'm amazingly optimistic even though i feel there are many challenges. these colleges came out -- right now you have 105 hbcus out of 4,000 american universities. we represent 2% of the colleges where we're producing 11% of the african-american graduates. we disproportionately represent young black people who are majoring in computer sciences. so we carry our weight and more. what i want for is for america to appreciate us for our policymakers, so the dollars aren't thrown away. hbcus are deserving and more deserving if we want to meet the president's 21st century goals. >> this is just the beginning of the conversation. we're going to continue to talk about it on the broadcast over the next few weeks. thank you all. i hope you come back and join me.

a big thanks to all of you. thanks so much for watching this afternoon. i'll be back starting at 3:00 eastern tomorrow. right now, "disrupt" with karen finney. >> we are going to take a closer look with the latest details on the release of sergeant beau bergdahl. we're also going to take a look at the special forces mission that brought him home and a hot more coming up so stay tuned. over 400,000 new private sector jobs... making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york... with the state creating dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. become the next business to discover the new new york. [ male announcer ] see if your business qualifies.

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if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom. good afternoon. i'm karen finney. we have breaking news this hour. 28-year-old sergeant beau bergdahl has been released by the taliban after nearly five years in captivity. he's just arrived for medical treatment. we're told he's in good health and able to walk having been recovered by u.s. special forests in eastern afghanistan along the border in exchange for four detainees. a defense official